We check in with people at each stage of the cash transfer process to see how things are going. Take a look at some of their stories as they appear here in real-time.
Learn more about how recipients opt in to share their stories.
Describe the moment when you received your money. How did you feel?
I was in the kitchen at around 3 pm preparing a late lunch since I was held up during the right cooking hours. My phone was on the table outside the house. I heard a message tone and I opted to go for the phone to confirm what kind of a message it was. Upon opening, I found out that, it was the first transfer of KES 55000.00 from GiveDirectly. My heart melted in joy and happiness, I jumped up and down and ululated while running around my house. This is because I had received an amount of money that I had never possessed.
Describe the biggest difference in your daily life since you started receiving payments from GiveDirectly.
Before getting the transfer, we lived from hand to mouth as a family. The struggle was real. At times, we had to sleep without eating because we had no food. My husband who is a casual laborer was fighting tooth and nail to ensure ends meet but sometimes he could not. As of now, we are happy as a family because upon receiving the transfer, we sat and decided to add a room to our one-roomed house so that we could separate ourselves from the children and thus maintain privacy as parents. As of now, we are no longer living with the children in the same room. Our house is also spacious to accommodate other household items.
What did you spend your most recent transfer(s) on?
When I withdrew the money, I opted to build a spacious house. This is because the one I had was very small and congested and thus could not accommodate my family. Therefore, I added a room and a sitting room. This construction cost KES 30000.00 in buying the iron sheets, roofing timbers, and the contractor's labor charge. Thereafter, I bought a mattress for KES 4000.00 because the one I had was very old and worn out. Although my four primary school children were settled in school I opted to pay KES 3000.00 school fees for the next term to ensure that they will not be sent out of school for fees and hence concentrate on their studies for better results. For the remaining amount, I decided to keep it for the family's needs.
Enrolled
access_time almost 3 years ago
What does receiving this money mean to you?
We are living as a poligamy family. We were 3 women married by the same man. One of us was divorced and now we are 2. We are living in a 2 bedroom house and I have 5 children. I have been thinking how I could have a spacious house which could accommodate my family but has not been easy to achieve this. Our husband is a driver and his salary cannot sustain the needs of the house currently. I used to have plenty of food from my farm but because of the drought which has persisted for two years, my farm dried up and I have nothing to harvest. All of us depends on the salary of our husband.
Receiving this money means I will build another one bedroom house for my children. I will spend the first transfer to do this and the second transfer I will open a food business. I am living near a secondary school of which the students walk along distance to buy their lunch daily. If I start a food canteen just outside the gate in my land, I believe will make money because no one will be ready to go far searching for a commodity which is already available by the school gate.
What is the happiest part of your day?
We celebrated the Christmas very fantastically. My husband came home with a live goat for Christmas celebration. This made me happy because I had finished 2 years without eating rice with meat.
What is the biggest hardship you've faced in your life?
Food insecurity is the biggest challenge in my house. I used to farm maize , sorghum,cassava and potatoes but the two years drought dried everything and the farm is empty without any food.
We currently depend on the salary of our husband which is not enough to cater for all the needs of my house. I dont have food in my house and I have developed a habit of skipping meals so that we can eat in the evening.
